Winter feast

It’s all about food in Bundaberg, a town and region inspired by the prodigious variety of crops grown in the surrounding rich-red soil.

Eating and drinking your way through the town’s vibrant local food scene of cafes, bars, brewhouses and distillers is quite a task.

Start with the newest kid on the foodie block, Water Street Kitchen, in Bundaberg’s back streets. Chef/owners Alex and Jen Cameron have expanded from catering to a café offering delicious, innovative flavours. Try their charcoal latte with a plate of WSK eggs benny and take home a packet of their granola.

At award-winning Indulge, chef/owner Michell White creates plates of mouth watering food for customers. Dishes highlight premium local produce, most likely hand-delivered straight from the field by a farmer that morning. It’s hard to go past Tu’s local, Taiwanese, steamed tiger prawn and pork dumplings, but you’ll be tempted by much more.

Under the sails at Windmill Café, near the beach at Bargara, is the perfect place for a leisurely breakfast or lunch.

Their locally-made gelato is available in amazing flavours and you can always pick up a holiday read from the lending library.

If time doesn’t allow for fish and chips at Grunskies by the River, a takeaway seafood platter filled with their premium wild-caught catch is a must. With an on-premise team shucking, peeling and filleting at the back, you can be sure the produce is fresh and local.

It’s not all just about food, with Bundaberg’s brewers and distillers showing their stuff on the Bundy Drinks Tour. Suzie Clarke will take you to some of her favourite drinking spots such as Bargara Brewing, award-winning Kalki Moon Distilling & Brewing Company and Bundaberg Rum’s museum and distilling complex.

Looking for somewhere to stay? There’s nothing between you and the beach at Bargara’s Zen Beach Retreat. This self-contained, boutique-style accommodation is perfect for couples or groups and includes access to a magnesium pool, an enormous guest lounge and deck overlooking the shoreline.

Festival food

Suzie Clarke and Tina Mcpherson on a Winterfeast Artisan Food Tour.

Bundaberg celebrates its farmgate to plate culture each year with 10 days of Winterfeast. Running from 6-15 July, the program includes RiverFeast’s Chilli and Lime Fiesta, Brewfeast and the Bundy Flavours & Winterfeast Farmer’s Markets. Learn how to make strawberry wine, join a Let The Night Be Gin masterclass or hop on an Artisan Food Tour and let Suzie Clarke from Bundy Food Tours show you her backyard.